DON’T BEG FOR CORRUPT OFFICIALS - President cautions

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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has cautioned all Ghanaians against the practice of seeking to plead on behalf of people caught to have engaged in acts of corruption, ostensibly to enable them escape prosecution.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has cautioned all Ghanaians against the practice of seeking to plead on behalf of people caught to have engaged in acts of corruption, ostensibly to enable them escape prosecution.

“When people get caught up in the net, I am imploring people not to come to me and say that ‘Oh! Nana, this man is my relative, so spare him’. That is the problem in Ghana. You find people going to speak to your wife with the hope of trying to influence you. I am not going to listen to that, because my concern is Ghana and not one or two individuals,” he stressed.

The president stated emphatically that he would not shield any public official found to have engaged in acts of corruption or malfeasance, but would ensure that the laws of the land were applied fully, without fear or favour.

President Nana Akufo-Addo was addressing a meeting of Ghanaian residents in Sierra Leone during a working visit to the country, as part of the third phase of his working visits to the ECOWAS countries.

He urged all Ghanaians to help him in the fight against corruption, “so that we can put that Ghana behind us, and get a new deal for our country.”

The president said the recent news of the arrest of some Customs officials, responsible for the loss of some GH¢1.2 billion in revenue to the state, was part of the efforts his government was making to block revenue leakages at the country’s ports.

“That money was going not into the government’s coffers, but into private pockets. We have importers who evade duty because they split the duty with Customs officials. It cannot continue like that in Ghana,” the President said.

He continued, “I want to assure you that, so long as I have the opportunity, and I have breath and power, I am going to do something about it, so we can stop the leakages. I know that if we stop the leakages, we will have the money to do our own development. We are not going to be dependent on some people coming to say they are going to give us charity or grants. We will finance our own development ourselves.”

Reiterating his commitment to depoliticise the prosecution of corruption in Ghana, as prosecutions carried out by the Attorney General are described as “witch-hunting” by opponents, President Akufo-Addo: “we are going to create the Office of Special Prosecutor, who will not be a creature of the government, but will be an independent person who will have the power to decide who to prosecute. So it will not be Akufo-Addo, but it is the law that is working.”

In the next meeting of Parliament, the President disclosed, the legislation setting up the Office of Special Prosecutor would be laid before the House, and “hopefully, by the second half of this year, the office will be up and working.”

He added: “we want to turn a new page in the history of our country. We are a rich country. I refuse this idea that Ghana is poor. I will not accept the language that Ghana is poor. Ghana is not a poor country. Ghana is a rich country, and we want to make it a rich country once again in our time. We all need to work hard to realise the wealth of our country.”